Leroy Reed named Eastern Idaho State Fair Grand Marshall
Longtime Bonneville County dairy farmer Leroy Reed has been named Grand Marshall of the Eastern Idaho State Fair this year.
Reed, the founder of Reed’s Dairy in Idaho Falls, has been involved in the fair since he started showing open class swine in 1948.
He joined the US Navy in 1951 and served aboard the USS Iowa Battleship. While he was in the Navy, his brother sold the swine and invested in cows, which laid the groundwork for what became Reed’s Dairy.
After adding ice cream to the family business in the early 1980s, he and his wife, LaRene, rented a wagon from Pepsi and walked around the fair selling single scoops in 1986. “We loaded up a regular freezer on top of that wagon and walked around all day long,” laughs Reed. “Out of a 2.5 gallon of ice cream, you can get 50 scoops, and we were easily selling 500 cones a day.”
The Grand Marshal of the fair is responsible for leading the opening parade through Blackfoot on August 31 and representing the fair during a grandstand event of their choice.
